January 18, 2011

Carol came up this weekend so we could celebrate the new year (I was sick on December 31st), but we did manage to get through the fog that had settled on the valley to visit Circadian for a few hours. Carol sewed in the new battens for the mainsail, and we hoisted it and cleaned the infestation of bugs out of it, including a mud wasp nest. In the Delta, nature takes over quickly if you haven’t hoisted a sail for a season! It looked pretty good now that the leech was properly held out by the battens.
Flush with the successful hoisting of the mainsail, I thought it would be good to get the genoa up while Carol was here to lend a hand. I even found the missing and unique crank handle that is needed to raise the genoa on the old original roller furler, a big relief! My delight was short-lived however. When I pulled the folded sail out of the mess in the aft cabin, it was obvious it would need repair before I could use it to sail down the coast. The clew was beat up, webbing needed replacement, there were tears in the UV cover, and much of the stitching was shot. It would be a waste of time to hoist it. Instead, I loaded it into the back of the truck to haul it to a sailmaker for assessment and repair.
Because I had Monday off for the MLK holiday, I decided to use the time as an opportunity to make the long drive to the Bay area to bring the sail into a reputable loft where I could look over the sail with the sailmaker. I drove in to Rooster Sails in Alameda. Rooster has been in business for many years and specializes in sail repair. When I got there about 11 am, Rui Luis, the owner, and I looked over the sail in loft. The verdict: It was an old sail that had been repaired before, but with new webbing, re-stitching and few patches, it would get me down the coast. I would need a new sail, though, to go beyond that. For a couple of hundred bucks, it was definitely worth fixing so I can use it while I save and plan for a new sail.